Memorandum from the Association of Iranian
Woman in the UK
1. I am writing to give the Committee some
information about the on-going violation of human rights in Iran.
In light of the facts set out in this letter, I respectfully request
the opportunity to address the Committee in order to elaborate
on these issues and also respond to any queries that the members
may have.
2. Since last April when the fundamentalist
regime of Iran escaped condemnation at the last UN General Assembly,
the barbaric punishments such as stoning, gouging eyes, amputating
limbs, flogging and even throwing people off from cliffs as a
form of execution have continued in Iran.
3. According to regime's official press
reports 26 have been stoned to death during Khatami' s presidency,
18 of them women. Article 104 of Islamic Punishment Act states
that when carrying out stoning, "The stone should not be
so big as to kill the offender with one or two stones. Nor should
it be as small as pebbles." The state-run dailies in Iran
reported on 9 October 2002 that a woman, identified as Nasrin,
was hanged at dawn on 8 October in Tabriz prison. She was the
second woman to be hanged in Tabriz within two weeks. State-run
dailies had reported the execution of another woman in Tabriz
on September 23. A woman by the name of Nosrat Abouii, who was
stoned in Yazd prison, managed to escape while she was being stoned
but she was arrested immediately by the suppressive agents of
the regime and put in jail. On 25 September 2002, Goli Nik-Khou
was stoned to death after serving her 15 years sentence in the
town of Naqadeh, western Iran. On 17 October 2002, the Mullahs'
regime announced that a woman prisoner identified as Zahra Nazari
was hanged the day before in Tehran's Qasr Prison. On 8 March
2002, the regime's official press reported that a 30-year-old
woman prisoner, mother of three children, died in jail a few days
before being stoned to death in accordance with a sentence passed
by a religious judge. At present another four women by the name
of Sima, Ashraf, Ferdows and Shahnaz are currently languishing
their stoning verdicts to be carried out. Some of their pictures
have appeared in the media.
4. According to Mullahs' laws, which recognise
gender apartheid even in punishments like stoning, women are buried
up to their armpits for stoning, while men are buried up to their
waist. The law provides that if the victims were to escape while
the sentence was being carried out, he or she would be allowed
to go free. Since, it is easier for man to escape; this discrimination
is literally a matter of life and death for women.
5. After the Iranian Resistance managed
to bring out a videotape of stoning of four victims in Iran and
international outrage over this inhuman practice, which included
calls for the abolishment of stoning in Iran, the Mullahs' regime
tried to deceive the international community by falsely claiming
to have called for a moratorium on stoning. The reality is that
nothing has been done to abolish stoning in the so-called Islamic
Punishment Act. This regime neither intends to nor has the capacity
to stop stoning and none of the officials have called for the
removal of this barbaric punishment. Instead, we have seen numerous
reports in different state-run dailies, writing about the moratorium
being only a rumour and that until it becomes law and confirmed
by judicial authorities, it has no meaning. A pro-Khatami Majlis
deputy Elahe Koulaii said: "This is a lie. No proposal to
abolish stoning has been submitted to the Majlis." (State-run
Khorasan daily, 17 December 2002).
6. ISNA, 28 December 2002, reported from
Babak Razmsaz, religious judge at Justice Department and deputy
head of Be'sat judicial branch as saying: "Since stoning
is classified as a religious punishment and there is an aspect
of God's authority, no changes can be introduced in this punishment.
Therefore, in the light of views of the religious leaders and
also the Islamic Punishment Act adopted in 1991 in accordance
with the Shiite religious laws, the time and location can have
no influence over the performance of religious laws and hence,
this punishment cannot be changed."
7. ISNA, 28 December 2002, reported from
Ayatollah Gholamreza Rezvani, a member of the Council of Guardians
as saying: "Stoning cannot be replaced by any other form
of punishment as Islamic decrees are not determined by the mode
in society. These decrees may have been unpleasant for the people
in the first days of Islam and in this respect no alternative
punishment has been set for adultery."
8. Since Khatami came to power in 1997,
he has never uttered the terms "human rights" or "defending
human rights". As the chairman of the Supreme Council of
Cultural Revolution, Khatami decided not to sign the United Nations
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women. Khatami has neither been wiling nor capable of bring about
any changes. In response to the objection raised by the Belgian
Deputy Prime Minister, Khatami's chief advisor on women's affairs,
Zahra Shojaee defended stoning by saying: "Stoning to death
had been sanctioned to uphold the sanctity of the family and family
values."
9. Since 1979, tens of thousands of women
have been executed in Iran. Among those executed were tens of
pregnant women. The worst kinds of tortures have been inflicted
on women prisoners who oppose the regime. These include repeated
sexual assaults and amputation of body parts. Women are attacked
and flogged in public. In many cases women are flogged for improper
veiling however these are not announced in the regime's media.
10. According to the misogynous rule of
Mullahs, a 15-year-old girl is considered as an adult and is sentenced
to all adult punishments including execution, torture, flogging
and other brutal punishments. In the most recent case, a 15-year-old
girl by the name of Razieh has been condemned to 50 lashes and
a year and half in prison along with the payment of a three million
Toomans fine. According to the article 1210 of the Civil Code,
a girl of eight years and nine months of age is considered to
be a fully-grown up, while a boy is only considered as an adult
at a later age of 14 years and seven months.
11. Under the religious dictatorship of
Mullahs, the Iranian people and especially women have been deprived
of their very fundamental freedoms and human rights. Women are
not allowed to leave home without the permission of their husbands,
even if she wants to attend her father's funeral. Women cannot
travel on their own without the permission of their husbands.
Husbands can prevent their wives from working outside if they
see the job an interference of the family interests. Husbands
can divorce their wives whenever they wish and without presenting
any reasons. Women are banned from teaching boys older than 10
years of age. A woman is the inferior sex, whose testimony is
worth half the testimony of a man. Women inherit half of men.
Women do not have the right to enter sport stadiums. In the football
game between Iran and Ireland in Tehran on 15 November 2001, only
Irish women were permitted to enter the stadium.
12. In education, 67% of the students deprived
of education are girls between 11 and 16 years of age. The number
of girl children who drop out of school is on the rise due to
negative attitude towards women's education, early marriages,
shortage of education space and educational facilities.
13. The suicide rate in Iran is one of the
highest in the world. 75 per cent of the victims are women, 81%
of whom are between 15 to 31 years of age. The average age of
those attempting suicide is 25.
14. Only 9% of Iranian women are employed.
72 per cent of these women work in the educational sector. Only
600,000 of the country's 29.5 million women have jobs. The reason
for nine out of every 10 women who are dragged into prostitution
is poverty. The second most common reason is unemployment.
15. The above facts are indicative of a
volatile situation in Iran. In light of the aforementioned facts
we are writing to ask the Committee:
— To urgently publicise these information
and to add them to the Committee's report on the situation of
human rights in Iran.
— To ask the Parliament to adopt a
resolution condemning the continuation and the deterioration of
human rights.
— To ask Her Majesty's Government to
submit a resolution against the Mullah's atrocities to the UN
Human Rights Commission.
— Finally, we should be grateful if
you would give us the opportunity to be present before the Committee
and to provide the members with further information about the
continuous violation of human rights in Iran.
We thank you in advance and look forward to
hearing from you soon.
Association of Iranian Women in the UK
3 March 2003
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